eat me drink me

It’s a sad day when pizza disappoints, review of Paulie Gee’s in Greenpoint:

“New York feels so saturated with Neapolitan-style pizza restaurants that you can barely throw a wad of dough without hitting a wood-fired pie in any neighborhood. Greenpoint is just the latest area to embrace the trend with Paulie Gee’s, which opened mid-March in the old Paloma space. Run by its namesake, Paul Gianonne, this rustic restaurant is nestled in the hippest part of the neighborhood near staples like The Pencil Factory and The Black Rabbit, and, from the look of the crowd gathered on a recent weekday night, this joint is gearing up to become a permanent fixture.” – New York Press

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To kick off my attempt to be better at blogging (ha!) I thought I would share a little juicy tidbit about Tillie’s, my old place of employment.  According to a piece from New York Magazine’s Daily Intel, Russian spies were using the Fort Greene coffee shop to do devious spy like things such as: sipping black coffee, wearing berets, gossiping, and passing state secrets.  The Wall Street Journal reported:

“The U.S. and Russia have sent spies to each other’s countries for decades, even in the 20 years since the Cold War ended. Still, the latest allegations come at a time when relations between the U.S. and Russia have been warming….They used coffee shops, bookstores and street corners to contact handlers, according to the FBI.”

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Um, yum? When I was at the Edible Cocktail event a few weeks ago I met Rick Field of Rick’s Picks.  I had to go over and gush at him about his pickles (what’s a girl to do?), and he was flattered enough to send me a T-shirt with my favorite one: Smokra’.  Yes, spicy, pickled, okra with a splash of paprika.

The first time I tried Rick’s Picks was at Spuyten Duyvil in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  They have an awesome pickle platter and the okra was on it.  Instantly I was hooked.  Rarely can I afford to get an $8 jar of the stuff, but when I do, I treasure it all the way to the brine.

Inspired by Saveur’s April edition where Roman food was key, I decided to host my own empire styled meal using recipes from Anya Von Bremzen’s article. The results were fantastic, and not nearly as complicated as I thought.

The menu for my feast: Spaghetti alla carbonara, fagioli e tonno (white beans with tuna), finocchio con latte al forno (fennel baked in milk), and broccoli strascinati (broccoli with garlic and hot peppers).

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With hardly a thing in the fridge save for some sad looking carrots, onion, a block of tofu and half a jar of my favorite 505 green chile sauce, I was at a head with what to make for dinner.  Then, inspiration hit and the idea of spicy rice coated with the hot, rich green chile blossomed in my mind.  Now, the tofu, must do something with that tofu, I thought (after all its expiration date was a mere three days away).  So, I decided to try pan frying it. The result was a savory tofu square crunchy and peppery on the outside with silken center that melted in my mouth.  The tofu cooled the firey rice and green chile sauce making a succulent spice bomb of a meal (and VEGAN too boot) that I will make again and again.

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Last night cocktails flowed like water at Edible Brooklyn’s Good Spirits event at the Bell House.  As the quarterly magazine’s first event at this venue, they certainly got the goods right, unfortunately the place was packed by 7pm and many of the stands ran out of food and/or drink by 7:30.  Lucky me, I got there early and indulged in the melty Duroc pork belly on polenta chips from Fette Sau and sipped their paired cocktail, The Gardiner, which had Hudson Corn whiskey, lime, and a rim of the restaurant’s special rub. › Continue reading

Get ready for the first ever Gourmet Latino Festival, which will hit restaurants and the Astor Center in June.  As they transform the Astor Center in to “a corner of Latin America,” the three Latina women behind the festival; Karen Uribe, Claudia Castro, and Mariana Suarez are giddy.  They have been planning and scheduling this event for two years, and, with the help of Centrico chef Aaron Sanchez and beverage expert Steve Olson, they are ready to go.

“We want to bring out the nuances throughout the different Latin cultures,” said Uribe last night during the festival preview.  “We really want to make it a cultural thing, not just about the food.”

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Who doesn’t love a pile of spicy, smoky, diced tomatoes with cilantro, lime, jalapeno, and onion, all mixed together and placed on top a corn chip, burrito, or taco?  In Colorado, you go to a Mexican restaurant and immediately they serve you a ramekin of garlicky tomato puree, rarely the bowl of fresh pico de gallo you get in New York (which people mistakenly call salsa).

But as New York Times writer Julia Moskin dives into the new Mexico chic cuisine that has popped up all over the city, she finds that a lot of places are getting this simple sounding, but not so simple dish, right.  Surprisingly, as a Mexican food snob, I totally agree with this article.  There are some great places to get some unique and tasty salsas.  Her list includes: Cascabel Taqueria, La Superior, Hecho en Dumbo, and more.  I would definitely add Cabrito, one of my personal favorite taco spots here, to the list.

Who has your favorite salsa?  And, what is the best way to make it?

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Today New York Times writer Manny Fernandez wrote about the 99-cent pizza craze that has been spreading across Manhattan.  But, he isn’t the first one to note cheap, $1 and under food.  About a year ago, I did a round up for Serious Eats that included pork buns, noodles, and sticks of meat from Flushing, Queens’ Chinatown; $1 falafel sandwiches; cheap sushi; and 39 cents an ounce frozen yogurt.  Josh Bernstein has also been rounding up cheap eats by neighborhood for Metromix.  He recently stumbled on the Hell’s Kitchen area and talked about the same pizza Fernandez did in his article.

What’s up with this craze?  Is 99-cent pizza worth it?  Adam Kuban of Slice didn’t say in his cheap pizza battle last year, but he also didn’t say he really liked either pie.  Some things I think work well as $1 items, like ices on the street in the summer, hot dogs, and French fries.  But overall, I would rather pay $2 for a really good slice, then bother with a kind of gross one for less.

Can I just tell you that I love coffee? Love, love, LOVE the stuff, and, because I drink it black, it totally makes my day when I stumble across a really good cup.  At RBC NYC in Tribeca, they have gone all out there. Enter, the Slayer. This variable pressure machine is the only one on the East Coast, and one of 20 in the entire WORLD. Wow. Handcrafted in Seattle, I can see why this beast is so special.  The three level system (which I am writing about for the New York Press right now, so more later*), draws out a perfectly smooth, buttery shot of espresso.  I was buzzing so hard core after going there.  Of course, I also sampled a cup of drip Sumatra. Yum.  It’s no wonder the New York Times included it in their great coffee shop round up.  But there was a downfall, all that coffee and no bathroom.

*Update: Here is the New York Press piece about RBC NYC.